1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer peripherals and, more particularly, to a method, system and apparatus to interface a CardBay card through the standard PC card form factor.
2. Description of Related Art
Today, PC card technology is used in mobile computing platforms ranging from high performance full size notebook computers to ultra-portable specialized function devices, such as personal organizers and cameras. As portable platforms continue to diversify in form factor and decrease in power consumption, add-in card technologies must mirror the compactness and energy efficiency of the portable host system. Future mobile systems will need user installable, modular add-in capabilities, in both card and storage form factors, in order to support standardized system configurations.
Future mobile systems are also evolving to a new I/O technology based on more modern, popular serial buses. The industry""s evolution is a drive to xe2x80x9clayerxe2x80x9d the future add-in capabilities atop these newer buses. CardBay has emerged as the standard embraced by the mobile industry as the best means of meeting these evolving market needs. This emerging standard outlines how add-ins will be direct evolutionary cousins of today""s PC cards offering the expected set of PC card functions, along with enhancements that meet the changing needs of mobile technology.
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (xe2x80x9cPCMCIAxe2x80x9d) compatible devices such as modems, memory modules, and disc controllers, for example, are well known. The PCMCIA standard PC card interface defines a physical size and electrical interconnection for each class of computer peripherals. The size of each PCMCIA device is approximately that of a credit card, and each device connects mechanically and electrically through a standard connector to a host computer such as a notebook PC.
The PC card standard further defines a software architecture to provide xe2x80x9cplug and playxe2x80x9d capabilities across of range of products. For example, host software known as Card and Socket Services (xe2x80x9cCSSxe2x80x9d) is an interface that masks the hardware implementation from card vendor drivers (ie, avoids requiring that the card driver communicate directly with any particular chip) and manages system resources such as interrupt assignment and memory windows for PC cards.
Although CardBay can offer new functionality to the PC Card Slot, existing CSS software, for example, will not recognize or support the new functionalities offered by CardBay or CardBay type technology. New PCMCIA compatible peripherals generally require specialized software and/or hardware, to interact with a peripheral access to the PC card interface, leading to large development cost, long development schedules and/or expensive adapters.
The present invention achieves technical advantages as a method, system and apparatus for interfacing a CardBay device using existing CardBus and 16-bit card CSS software. A CardBay controller responds to card queries to indicate a pseudo card configuration which the host will recognize and support without the need for modified CSS software. The CardBay controller further overrides the power control request generated in response to the pseudo card configuration information and signals a power control request based on the voltage combination associated with the actual CardBay device. The controller further intercepts CIS read commands and responds with a CIS which is specific for the inserted card. The controller further intercepts driver accesses and converts them into accesses that the CardBay device recognizes.